Rooster2

Look at your existing struts/shocks to see if their are any fluid leaks. If so, that is a dead give away that you need to replace. Also, do the "rebound test" by pushing down on all four corners of the car to get the struts to rebound. Do they dampen the motion, or continue to rebound? I have had several Subies that have approached 200k miles, and the struts were still good, so the OEMs last a long time. The KYB GR2 shocks are a great value for the money. I have used on several cars, and have been pleased. They last a long time, and are a bit firm, yet ride very nice. They have my vote.

Yes, the packing grease is applied to prevent corrosion only.

a good idea, Thanks!

Well this was weekend #2, in my effort to remove the rear diff bolts to replace the diff oil. Today, I went to Harbor Freight, bought their half inch electric impact wrench. With repeated effort, I could not loosen the bolts either trying to loosen or tighten. So, tried someone's earlier suggestion of using a jack to lift the breaker bar handle. Nope, that didn't work. All I was doing was jacking the car up from from the suspension, and the bolt was not turning. I had used some Liquid Wrench spray last weekend, but didn't use it today. It is difficult to get the spray to penetrate the bolt threads, when the bolt head is turned upwards 90 degrees from the ground. The spray just wants to drip off the bolt and onto the ground. Well, anyway, I have a buddy that will be back from vacation soon. He has an air impact wrench. Maybe that will loosen the bolts. Any useful idea most welcomed! Thanks!

That is always a problem that I worry about when buying over the net. The price may be great, but if the product is wrong, or damaged, it is a super hassle to get it straightened out. Sometimes, it is better to buy from a brick and mortar store, where you can get a problem sorted out easily.

Yea, sure is high on the cute factor chart, uldn't want to drive it on city streets, only off road. It looks just too dangerous with nothing to crush but your front legs in any front end accident. Wonder why price is so high at $5,000? Where would you ever find replacement parts?

Prolly not the first, nor the last that a part has been mislabeled with a wrong number. If it were me, I would take the new part down to my friendly Subie dealership, and talk to the guy at the parts counter. The parts guys are usually pretty down to earth guys and very helpful. Explain your story, show him your part, and ask him to show you both # 10 & # 11 hoses. If he has both in stock, the differences should be clearly evident between what you have, and what he is showing you as parts # 10 and # 11. Buy the correct one from the Subie dealer if you own the wrong one, (it can't be much of a price difference vs. internet purchase), then return the wrong one for a refund.

My effort was last weekend without success. The advise I got here was to use a half inch drive (really breaker bar) with a long bar slipped over the existing handle for added leverage. I will try this on this coming weekend. Another guy suggested using the breaker bar, and with the help of a car jack, he literally pushed the breaker bar handle up to untighten the bolt. Guess that would work too.

I don't know if the oil in a 5 speed trany ever needs to be changed, but it sure wouldn't hurt anything. As far as changing lube in the rear dif, I tried doing that on my 99 last weekend to no avail. I bet you will find bolt/plugs to be super tight, like I found on my car. Suggest you use a half inch drive breaker bar, then slide a long pipe over then end of the breaker bar handle to gain added leverage. Be sure to loosen the top bolt/plug first, where lube is added. Otherwise, you will be screwed if you drain the lube, but then can't get the top bolt/plug out to add new lube.

Also, looks like you can purchase from their website.

No, Subie does not use the CIS Jetronic system. That was only used by German car manufacturers back in the 80's to early 90's. I owned several Audi/VWs during that era, and still own an 87 Audi 5000 that is CIS, so I know.

This should work well. Just keep an eye on the fix, such as when changing the oil, to see that the "patch" is holding up. It should!

Spark plugs just look like they needed to be replaced. Three were white-ish in color, so not oil fouled, and not burning oil. The fourth, and most worn out plug looks somewhat fouled, but may because just worn out. The gap on that plug is way out of spec. If the engine has not been using/burning a lot of oil, then I would think there is no internal engine problems. Suspect like John said, the coil pack may be your problem. I seem to remember in an earlier post that you put some "dry gas" in the tank. Have you gone through several tanks of gasoline since then to eliminate the thought that you bought a bad tank of gas to cause the roughness?

IMO, buying a 14 year old car with a bad trany and 238K miles, is the same as buying a parts car, or a car that is really headed for a wrecking yard. With these thoughts in mind, a wrecking yard would pay only about $200, if that. IMO, I wouldn't pay much more than $200. I also think you are going to find more things wrong with that car beyond the bad trany, that may cost some serious money. You should be thinking about getting in this car on the cheap, if you are considering fixing it up.

I appreciate your advise about making sure the fill plug comes loose first before draining diff oil. Someone else wrote this about a month or so back (Maybe you) on the USMB. I remembered that, as I struggled to loosen both plug bolts.

I like this approach. I will give this a try.

Well I have been wanting to change the rear dif grease for some time. Today, the weather warmed up, so I backed up my 99 OBW on ramps, and grabbed my 1/2 drive. Try as I might using PB Blaster, and rust eater, after a soak, I could not loosen either bolt. I even added a bar to the drive to extend the length of the handle, and pushed down with both feet on the bar. All I did was break the driver. It was a cheapie driver to begin with, so I don't mind breaking the tool, but still am surprised how tight those plug bolts can be. I am sure that they have never been loosenedby PO before, but wow, are they tight. Any suggestions on what to do next would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe PO installed spark plugs with too low of a heat range, so plugs fouled. This seems far fetched. I have been around cars for a long time, and have never heard of an antifowler. I am curious to learn more about this product, what it is, how it works, and why someone would want to use it. Install new plugs, and see what happens. Subaru doesn't build and sell junk, so leaky injectors, worn piston rings/oil control rings don't seem like a reasonable possibility.

Autozone quotes $152 for a rebuilt with core exchange. I have bought their rebuilds for several cars. Never have had a problem. Comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Thanks for the pricing info. That gives me somewhat of a ball park price to have in mind, if I see some decent seats in a yard to buy. Those fancy LL Bean seats sound super nice. I did not know that they have both upper and lower power cushion controls. Makes me feel like the standard crappy cloth seats in my 99 OBW are Walmart specials!

By "fastners" do you mean the seat belt receptacle that the seat belt tongue clicks into? Did you get the 2002 seats from a wrecking yard? If so, what was the cost, if you don't mind saying?

No issues that I can think of. My guess is that the engine is the 3.0, not the 3.6 litre,(just a typo) 6 cylinder motor. Both the 4 and 6 cylinder Subie engines are great dependable runners. Still, you should find out for sure what size motor is in the car.

Driver seat in my 99 OBW gets really uncomfortable on any trip lasting more then 1 hour. The seat cushion is just too hard. Maybe it was good years back with PO, but not now. Is there a chart anywhere that shows what seats interchange over the years and models with other Subies? I would really like to score some better seats from a wrecking yard. My other thou

Some one buying a 13 year old car, I gotta think is more interested in how well the motor runs, car drives, and car condition, rather than what size motor is in the car. Advertise "as is," and that the motor has been replaced with a newer one, with fewer miles, if that is the case, and that it will pass state emission tests. If the car is decent, it should sell easily.

hmmm.....I always thought it was normal for a ridge to build up as the brake pads wear down the rotors. I just throw on another set of pads when they are worn out, and live with the ridge. However, if the rotors get really worn down, and the ridge is substantial, then I simply replace the rotors. I don't think the diameter size of the rotors is an issue, unless you think your present rotors are some how the wrong size.